More messages everyday and some students have felt empowered to leave comments on these articles. One thing is for sure Pendleton County’s culture of silence is dying. It is dying because of brave students speaking. It is dying because parents have had enough. It is dying because we are going to continue blasting them until they do the job they were hired to do or lose it.
After everything The Whisper has reported involving Sharp Middle School, ignored complaints, alleged intimidation, and students saying they were not heard and admonished for reporting, parents and students need to understand something very clearly. The principal is not the final authority. The assistant principal is not the final authority. The superintendent is not the final authority. The school board is not the final authority. If your child reports abuse, grooming, sexual comments, inappropriate touching, sexual harassment, retaliation, intimidation, bullying, or misconduct by a school employee, and the school does nothing, you do not have to keep begging the same people who failed your child. You go above them.
Kentucky has mandatory reporting laws for a reason. When someone has reasonable cause to believe a child is abused, neglected, dependent, exploited, trafficked, or at risk, that issue is supposed to be reported outside the school building. It is not supposed to be quietly handled in an office. It is not supposed to turn into a referral against the student. It is not supposed to disappear because it makes the school look bad.
If a child is in immediate danger, call 911. For suspected abuse, neglect, exploitation, or trafficking, Kentucky’s child protection hotline is 1 877 KYSAFE1, which is 1 877 597 2331.
Parents and students also need to know about the Educational Professional Standards Board, known as EPSB. This is one of the most important tools people are not using enough. EPSB handles educator misconduct complaints involving certified school employees. That can include teachers, principals, assistant principals, counselors, superintendents, and other certified staff.
The public can file complaints with EPSB, and the complaint should name the employee, the school, the district, what happened, who was told, when it happened, and any proof available. Do not just say “the school did nothing.” Name the teacher. Name the principal. Name the assistant principal. Name the person who received the complaint. Name the person who dismissed it. Name the person who gave the referral. That is how a real record gets created outside the district.
This matters because the superintendent and school board are not the only path. In Kentucky, superintendents also have a duty to report certain educator misconduct to EPSB. If a superintendent knows about misconduct involving a certified employee and does not report it, that can become an issue too. This is why families cannot keep allowing complaints to die inside the same system being accused of mishandling them. If the district failed your child, create a record somewhere the district does not control.
https://www.education.ky.gov/epsb/Pages/default.aspx
If the issue involves sexual harassment, sexual misconduct, sex based discrimination, retaliation, or the school failing to properly respond, parents can also file with the United States Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, known as OCR. OCR handles civil rights complaints, including Title IX issues.
A Title IX failure is not just a local school problem. If a student reports sexual comments, grooming behavior, harassment, or inappropriate conduct, and the school ignores it, punishes the student, intimidates the student, or fails to properly investigate, that should be reported outside the district.
Email: ocr@ed.gov
https://www.usa.gov/agencies/office-for-civil-rights-department-of-education
Parents should document everything. Save messages, screenshots, referrals, emails, audio, video, names, dates, and timelines. Write down who your child told, what was said, what the school did, and what the school failed to do. If you meet with the school, follow up with an email summarizing what was said. Do not let serious reports exist only in hallway conversations and closed door office meetings. Paper trails matter because paper trails survive the excuses.
If you have already contacted The Whisper about Sharp Middle School, ignored reports, inappropriate conduct, retaliation, or intimidation, consider taking the next step. Report it to the proper outside agency. You can still message The Whisper. You can still protect your identity publicly. But these reports need to leave Facebook comments and private messages and start landing on the desks of agencies that have authority above the district.
For too long, parents and students have been made to feel like the school’s answer is the final answer. It is not. If a school protects adults more aggressively than it protects children, go above the school. If a district protects the system more aggressively than it protects students, go above the district. If they will not listen inside the building, make them answer outside of it.
As always please reach out to us and we will protect your identity. Please like and share these posts it helps spread the word. Lastly, if you are brave enough please share in the comments your thoughts, feelings and experience.
Whisper One Out.
Trending Now
